day 1165: Training?

"So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God."

Most corporate training only scratches at the surface of what we need to know to do our jobs fully.  We get the basics of what and how and then we move on and maybe for years we don't get retrained or more deeply grown or developed.  When we think back about the training that was most of an impact on our jobs, it is that training that actually grew us more as human beings than just make us a better worker.  When this happens, we are actually able to take that learning, apply it to our work and we ultimately become better all the way around.  That is training that sticks.  I was with a friend this last week who was telling me about a holistic session that his partnership did with the senior partners in the company.  It started with a comprehensive physical examination, moved through life expectations and motivations, and then ended up with applying all of this to how each individual would change to be better in their jobs over the next five years.  My friend was effusive about how significant this was to him.  Forget all of the "training", instead let's send our people off to "learning".  

In Hebrews, we are challenged to move our spiritual lives from basic training to true learning and deepening.  Just like our corporate training, we can hang around the surface and go through the motions and receive very little that sticks, or we can dive in deep looking for spiritual breakthrough that will lead to real growth and life applications.  We don't go to work every day just looking for the same old, same old, so why would we go about our Kingdom work this way?  Let's consider honestly today what level of "training" or "learning" we are really pursuing?

Reference:  Hebrews 6:1 (New Living Translation)
 

day 501: Learning Platforms

How we learn in the world of business varies. Some organizations struggle to train or provide corporate development so most learning happens “OTJ”, on the job. This is not all bad, but other organizations want to take learning further and have established training departments who have people who are skilled in instructional design, assessment and delivery. Corporate training is a skill that companies can hire and hone. Certain corporations have become world-class at training and this has become part of their hallmark and their employment brand. But, what any trainer knows is that training only goes as far as the willingness of the person who is being taught. Regardless of the learning platform that has been created, without active and enthusiastic participants, the platform is not of much value and while it may look good, the money invested will not yield the results desired. However, if there are people who are hungry to learn and passionate about growing and becoming better, then the learning platform can be only just cobbled together and it still will work. So, learning is really about us and our desire to be developed and to learn something new. David told us that we should be learners when he called upon God in Psalm 119:135, and said; “Look down on me with love; teach me all your principles”. David was a learner and he modeled that there is one teacher who provides us with all we will ever need, if we only approach Him as active and willing learners. Today, what is there for you to learn that you haven’t yet allowed yourself to be taught?

Reference: Psalm 119:35 (New Living Testament)

day 368: Listen and Learn

The first time I heard of an executive going on a "listen and learn tour" was back in the early 1990's when an incoming CEO was assigned to me to help build his orientation plan. He wanted to visit as many manufacturing plants, sales offices, logistics centers and functional areas of the company as he could before he took over the reins. I remember him saying to me, just tell the people that I will be there to "listen and learn". Since that time, I have always encouraged new employees to take the same approach and listen and learn for as long as they can before they begin to "talk and teach". In my experience, listening and learning first is a sure-fire success formula. If entering a new business or job and trying to prove that you know it all from day one, you are setting yourself up for serious organ rejection. But, listening shows you care and taking in what you learn and doing something with it shows that you can be a real learner and are open to new ideas, thoughts and ways of doing things. The term listen and learn was positively refreshed in my mind this past weekend when our Pastor spoke from John 6:45 when Jesus said, "As it is written in the Scriptures, 'They will all be taught by God'. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to Me." Listen and learn; there it is as a way of living taught to us by Jesus. Today, think about how much listening and learning you are doing versus talking and teaching. Even if you have been in the same job for 20 years and you are the boss, there is still an opportunity to listen to employees you normally would not sit and talk to, or go out and listen to customers and learn what they have to say. We all can heed the lesson and listen and learn more than we did yesterday and more tomorrow than we will do today.

Reference: John 6:45 (New Living Testament)

day 325: Teaching to Learn Twice

Invariably we are asked to repeat something to someone else for what will feel like the umpteenth time. It will be someone new into the company, a co-worker who wasn't listening, or a boss who doesn't pay enough attention, etc. At some time we probably all have found ourselves saying, "How many times do I have to repeat myself?" The fact is that if you have ever said this to yourself it only means that you have information and knowledge that others need, so in a sense you are being asked to teach others what to do or how to do something. But in those moments, it does feel like there is not a lot of value added for the repetition. However, with a little attitude adjustment we will be able to see that in fact what is happening is that we are improving ourselves with each repetition and with each time that we teach, we actually learn again. The old saying is; "He who teaches, learns twice". I think this is so true even in situations where the messages being delivered are the same, there is always a better way of delivering or an added part of the story that gets built as the repetitions occur. So, we should not miss the opportunities to teach others, even when it feels like rote and redundant. In Psalm 119:13 we read that David used words spoken out loud to reinforce and learn; "I have recited aloud all the laws you have given us." David learned the laws by heart by reciting them out loud over and over. It is the same with how we repeat and recite those things that are a part of our work. As we get put into the situations where it feels repetitive, let's not miss the opportunity to know that we are teaching others as we go and that the words from our mouth can become the words that are recited and followed by others. Every time we teach, we learn again. Here is to a day of learning.

Reference: Psalm 119:13 (New Living Testament)

day 219: University of Corporation

Corporate Universities? Yes, places, while at work, to provide continuing education to employees that they couldn't or wouldn't go get while they are working. The idea has been around for a long time. One of the best known back in the 80's and 90's was General Electric's Crotonville facility. They ran it like a university with faculty and all. As GE excelled and Jack Welch credited Crotonville for much of their business success, everyone wanted their own corporate university. Only a few could afford it though. Those who did would go and hire a "Dean" to oversee the university and then fill in the staff with external teachers and internal people who saw themselves more as educators and extenders of knowledge than just workers. There is an old adage; "he who teaches learns twice". People who believe that love to teach others what they know. In one of my companies my team and I created one of these corporate universities and had multiple learning and educational discipline tracks with the goal that everyone would attend a "university" course sometime along the way each year. A commitment to continuous learning is part of building a great corporate culture. Apple has been one of the latest to jump on the corporate university bandwagon and they have created it to keep the learning around innovation alive and thriving within Apple; a life-blood for them. Threaded through almost every corporate university course will be some way of teaching and reinforcing the continuation of the values and principles of the company, which can lead to the development of wisdom and better judgment. If you have wisdom and great judgment when on the job, then you will likely do well at whatever you attempt. The Bible tells us that we should pursue both of these. In Proverbs 4:7 we are told: "Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment." Learning, developing and bettering ourselves with wisdom and judgment is a positive intersection that fits exactly with what our employers would like us to do and be. There are lots of conflicts with the direction of how we should work and the purpose that we are attempting to live out, but in this area, there are no conflicts. I can't think of any manager who doesn't want us to have more wisdom and better judgment around our work. God wants us to have more of both in our work and in our overall lives. You may get a chance soon to take a course or class that can better you. Do it! And if you are looking for a syllabus and textbook that you can study daily to add to your wisdom and judgment, look no further than God's Word. A few minutes of study there a day and you are automatically enrolled in the university of all universities.

Reference: Proverbs 4:7 (New Living Testament)

day 201: Chief Learning Officer

I have been helping a good friend of mine source a Chief Learning Officer for his company. The fact that the company is committed enough to learning and teaching their employees to put someone in charge of just that says something positive in itself about what is important to the company. Many companies give lip service to keeping their employees learning and developing but in reality the first budget to get cut in a downturn is training and development. The job specifications for a Chief Learning Officer, beyond the required academic credentials, are that the person has to be sensitized and very attuned to the needs of others and to what competencies and skills the company will need to continue to grow and expand. The person also must have sophisticated influence skills to be able to respond to the needs of others in ways that the receiving parties will accept and adopt the feedback and teaching. Not everyone wants to learn and grow and sometimes it takes someone else to be the mirror for them so that they can see where they have opportunities. The Chief Learning Officer is also a "go-to" person. That means that they are approachable and someone that others, because of their knowledge and their personality, would seek out to be there for them when they need counsel and advice on how to better themselves. This person wears many hats but none more important than being a trusted counselor to all that they work with, using their expertise to be the leader of betterment of people. As I think about this more, doesn't God want us, in our jobs, when pursuing our purposed to also be His Chief Learning Officers? In Hosea 4:6 he says that the problem with his people is that they don't know enough. He says: "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.". What he is really saying is that the people don't know enough about Him and don't know Him personally. Every day we go to work with God wanting to be there with us. He wants to pour over spreadsheet with us, to be on the sales call, to participate in the weekly meetings, to be involved during the difficult conversations, etc. But for any and all of this to happen we must have a first-hand knowledge of Him and be able to pass that knowledge along to others through our words, examples, and our actions. To be a learning officer we have to first have the knowledge to impart. Think about this today as you head out to work. What knowledge and learning do you have that you can impart to others so that they see Christ reflected in your work? As you inventory your knowledge base, do what the Chief Learning Officer does, see the gaps and outages of knowledge and then make a plan to go gain that knowledge. From there the real learning begins.

Reference: Hosea 4:6

day 196: Knocking Knees

Work is full of moments and opportunities for knee knocking. You know the knee knocking feeling. It's that moment when you go to make the big presentation to higher ups, or you get visited by the CEO or a member of the Board of Directors and they ask you your opinion or point of view on something, or it's the moment when you are asked to speak in front of the team, or it's the out of the blue phone call that comes from the boss when he/she asks you something on the spot, or it's the sharing the elevator with the CEO and you don't quite know what to say next. Some would call it the butterflies in the stomach, I call it knee knocking time. I can remember many times in may career where my knees knocked as I made a presentation in the Board room or even to just a larger part of the team. If I had been wearing a heart monitor on those days in those moments I am sure I would have been way up there like running hard or biking a hill. Actually those moments are good for all of us. They make us sharpen ourselves and ensure that we are on our toes and bringing forward our best thinking. I have often thought that when those moments of anxiety start going away in our jobs that it might be time to think about doing something else. If we become so comfortable in what we do and who we are working with that we aren't having the knee knocking moments then it could be that we aren't getting grown or we aren't stretching ourselves enough to develop any longer. We know this about our relationship with God too. When we are striving to grow closer on our journey to know God the awesomeness and power of God should keep our knees knocking. We read this in 1 Peter 1:17: "...He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth.". What this verse says to me is that we should feel those knees knock a bit each time that we go before God and just like work when we are put on the spot for our point of view or a presentation, we should be bringing our best to God and knowing that he is judging us but doing so not like he will not think that our best is good enough but like that he wants us to grow and come closer to Him. If today in your job you are at a point where the knees have stopped knocking at work then go get that extra oomph by leaning in closer to God. Ask Him today to be at work with you and to help you grow towards Him today. And if you are going to be in a knee knocking spot at work today, then ask Him to be there with you to make the experience one of learning and development and to lead you in that moment.

Reference: 1 Peter 1:17 (New Living Testament)